Chapter 5

As Yuzuki stood in cold ankle-deep water with a stick in her hand she had to wonder. What was the point of D-Rank missions? What did they build exactly? Hayate made sure that she was training to and from the missions, but for other genin? They didn't have someone who wanted them to live past fifteen.

Granted, as thankful as she was, she didn't like having to dodge weapons while trying to run to places. The water stinging the small shallow cuts on her legs was a reminded for her to run faster. She sighed and continued to pick up the litter in the water. She couldn't believe that there was so much trash in the river. Didn't people know what trash in the water could do to the water supply?

They were lucky that this was a D-Rank mission and as such there was always someone to pick it up.

She looked over to Hayate and watched as he moved through his katas with a katana. She shook her head and went back to working on picking up the trash. She was starting to wonder how long she had to be out here. Was this a three-hour mission? She felt her shoulders slump as she picked up a rusty can. She dropped it into the wicker basket strapped to her bag and moved up-river where it was a bit deeper.

She had cleaned most of the river near the waterfall but didn't want to get too close to the raging waters. She didn't know water walking or tree climbing yet, so going near that waterfall was like a death sentence. She didn't want to drown, being pulled under the water at that speed would be difficult if not impossible to get back to the surface. She could feel a chill go down her spine at the idea of drowning. It wasn't her first choice for ways to die.

"You have an hour left to go," Hayate let her know.

He got a low whoop from her and he smirked. He knew that she hated D-Rank missions, but she needed to rack up as many as she could. Doing a bunch of D-Ranks and then taking on C-Ranks was the best way to make sure that one was recommended for the jonin exams. He would most likely see her go all the way to the top, like Hatake. Well, since she was technically an adult she had to know what she was doing.

At least, he hoped she knew what she was doing.

Sometimes he wondered. Those times were when they were doing their training on their way to the mission contacts made him wonder. He liked being able to get some training of his own in as well, and she should be glad he wasn't Gai. He wasn't making a mini-him, though that wasn't the worse idea imaginable if he was being honest. A second Gai was scary, a second him or Genma wasn't.

Well, if he thought about it a second Genma was a terrifying thought.

He finished with his katas and turned to his student. She had moved further upstream and was picking up trash as she went. She paused for a few seconds and watched as a few fish swam past her, a look of nostalgia on her face. Certain things did that, one time it was flowers and now fish. She was strange, that was for sure. He didn't mind it; she was a breath of fresh air for this generation.

She took their chosen profession seriously. Which was good. She treated it like her past profession, which was a mistake. Sure, there were similarities, but it was different overall. The weapons she described had made the job she'd done easier. They couldn't even tap into their chakra and use it in her world. When she had first felt her own chakra, she thought she was dying. A deep ocean with lightning rolling over the surface, is how she described it.

At least he knew her natures. Lightning and water. He could work with water, but lightning…there was only one other ninja in the village that had a lightning release and he really didn't want to go to Hatake of all people for help with his student. Knowing her she would worm her way into Hatake's good graces and end up with the Chidori or something similar. Now that was a terrifying thought.

If she could mold her chakra to a blade then she could do considerable damage that way and be able to use her primary nature with ease. She'd be a right terror, and possibly gain as much infamy as one of the seven swordsmen of the mist. He couldn't help but be slightly amused by that thought. A pint-sized swordswoman going against some of the strongest in the world? She would probably hit him for thinking that if he were to ever voice it.

He looked down at the clock he had brought and then placed on a smooth rock and let out a sigh. If he was a mean person he'd make her stay in the river for another thirty minutes. He let out a shrill whistle and she looked up with a large can on the end of her stick, pouring water on her head. She put it in the basket and started to wade out of the water. She had to tie a lid to the basket before she dropped it at a waste receptacle in the area.

She looked at him and he held up a kunai. It didn't take her long to start running at the silent threat. She was getting better at dodging, but when one went past her cheek and she sped up he started to wonder if he was overdoing it. When she looked back at him in annoyance he wondered if she wasn't a mind reader. Granted, the Yamanaka's did technically do that if they went into torture and interrogation. She was giving him a look not to go easy on her.

Perhaps she did know the importance of her line of work.

He could work with this. He drew out another Kunai and tossed it at her. She ducked down and he saw a few strands of hair flying in the air. She was very good at not activating the Byakugan as per his instruction, if she got used to that crutch then she would be a sitting duck. There was a blind spot with the byakugan. He smirked as she did another last-minute dodge to a kunai sent at her head.

"You are an oni," She grumbled to him after a few days of training, "You look like a good-looking guy, but you are the true definition of evil."

"Flirting won't get you anywhere," He informed her in an amused tone a smirk appearing on his face.

"Give me a few more years," She hissed at him, her cheeks a pale pink, "I might end up taller than you, I could throw you."

He looked down at her as she tried to catch her breath after running through the streets of Konoha. It was a training day, no missions just training. He was dressed in a simple pair of shinobi pants and a short-sleeved shirt. She was in a pair of shorts and a short-sleeved shirt. They were in the same color scheme of dusty blue.

"I would pay to see that," Hayate informed her.

She gave him a glare before reaching up to wipe at the sweat going down her face. Her hitai-ate was in her hand and she went back to trying to catch her breath. She was going to be feeling the burn for the rest of the day. Twenty laps around Konoha- the village was ginormous, but not as big as the city she had originally come from, San Diego had been even bigger- a hundred and fifty pushups, a hundred crunches, and then a hundred pull ups. She couldn't feel her body at this point and was just doing what he asked her to do. Honestly, she didn't have the energy to fight back. It was like boot camp all over again.

"What did you even used to look like?" He asked her.

She stared at him for a few seconds before holding up two fingers and performed a henge. In front of him was a tall woman with extremely short mahogany brown hair and kind blue eyes. He stared at her for a few seconds as his mind processed what she had looked like. She gained a small smile and her eyes lit up.

"You seem surprised, Shishou," She teased.

She even remembered the way her voice sounded. He swallowed thickly and looked away. She had been a very pretty woman, even with her strange accent. She looked around as though she had missed being the height she remembered. She did, she had liked being tall and sometimes she could tell that her past life was influencing her new body. The long pianist fingers were a fitting example of that.

"You look the same age as me," He muttered.

"Yeah, except from what you've told me you're younger than you used to be," She replied as she dropped the illusion, "You were what, twenty-three in the original timeline?"

He let out a hum at her words and she stretched. The two paused in their conversation as a green clad man easily sprinted past him, a small green blur went by as well. They watched as a female with twin buns on her head ran past huffing, and an awfully familiar Hyuuga ran past with ease. Hayate spared a glance at his student and noticed the glare on her face. She had a problem with her cousin, he was such a brat compared to how he had been.

"You know, that gives me an idea," Hayate informed her.

"I'm not wearing a jumpsuit," She immediately informed him with a glare.

If he wasn't so sure that she would kill him, that's exactly what he would say. He sighed at that and looked to the side with an amused grin on his face. He could feel her slowly releasing killer intent due to his obvious amusement. He let out a soft cough and that killing intent changed to worry. She sighed quietly and dug around her weapons pouch for something. She brought out a cough drop and handed it to him.

"Here," She muttered, "It'll help somewhat."

He accepted it with a raised brow. She was hanging around the Hyuuga compound again if she was getting medicine in her possession that wasn't easily accessible at the hospital. She eyed him until he popped it into his mouth. Her expression relaxed and she turned her attention back towards the village to look at the houses.

"We need to make a quick stop." He informed her and she turned back to him with a skeptical look.

A half an hour later found a smirking Hayate and a slowly moving Yuzuki. She was trying to walk like normal, but the weights around her limbs were making it impossible. He had started her on fifteen pounds. She let out a huff as she brought her arms up to open the door for the sushi bar that they typically ate at.

Sometimes she wondered why Konoha didn't trade with Kirigakure or Wave to get fresh fish. Sealing scrolls would help keep everything fresh, it would be like keeping a corpse fresh for figuring out its secrets. Hayate had her read up on the several types of nin, he was helping her get to her goal of torture and interrogation. He knew where she would flourish.

"This isn't funny, Shishou," She hissed at him as she saw his slight grin.

He started to chuckle as she sat down at a table and placed her arms on the surface with a distinct thump. She hissed in slight pain as her skin made contact. He almost felt bad for her, but she needed to have some ability to train and form some muscle. She needed to be as strong as possible to survive the chuunin exam. Even if she didn't get the promotion, he knew that she would try her best.

She was going to wipe the floor with them, he would make sure of it.

He needed to set a rule not to kill the other opponents. Maim, yes. Kill, no. He reached up with a hand and ruffled her hair. She grumbled at him as a waitress brought them their usual drink. Matcha and Matcha, they were a strange match. They meshed well together, that much he hadn't been expecting. He thought that she would fight him the entire time, but she had shut her mouth and followed orders. Sometimes he saw her questioning his methods, and then he would throw a kunai her way and she would roll out of his reach.

He needed her to start dodging better and using a kunai to parry them. He had yet to start on teaching her kenjutsu. He was waiting until she finished another week of D-Ranks until he started on that type of training. A week of D-Ranks with weights on? He was going to have to teach her how to increase the weights on her limbs with chakra. She was set at the fifteen-pound limit and that seemed to make her slower than usual.

"I don't like that glint in your eyes," She informed him.

He wasn't even aware that he had gained a glint in his eyes. He looked down at her and noticed that she was face down. He narrowed his eyes and caught her shrugging. She moved her face to where he could see the veins around her eyes. She had activated her dojutsu with such ease, sometimes it surprised him that she couldn't use chakra in her past life. Judging by the amount of muscle that had been on her, she hadn't really needed it.

"I think at the end of the month, we'll take on a C-Rank mission," He informed her.

"Ah yes, the end of June, right?" She asked him as she frowned, "Sounds good to me."

She typically made food on the fourth of July and he never really understood why. He knew that Genma didn't complain, even though the date did confuse him as well. Free food was free food in Genma's mind, especially if he knew who was making it. Genma typically liked it when she grilled hamburgers. He gathered that's why she didn't make that kind of food that often, she knew that she would never be rid of him.

"Is there a way to get through this a bit faster?" She asked him, "Not that I'm looking for an easy way out, but I feel as though I could be using my time better."

"After lunch," He told her.

Three plates of sushi and two more cups of tea later saw the two of them at training grounds thirteen. It was next to a river and plenty of trees. The clearing was perfect for what they needed. This was the only one that was free, other teams had taken up the other training grounds, and jonin typically trained near the forest of death. Well, more like one jonin trained in the forest.

He shuddered at the sudden thought of purple hair.

"I'm going to teach you the Kage Bunshin No Jutsu," He informed her.

"Cool." She simply said, her face muffled by the grass.

She was having trouble staying up right. He sighed at that; she was only being short with him out of frustration. He held up the hand signs and quickly went through them. He knew that she had seen them, he wasn't stupid she was using the byakugan. A clone poofed into life next to him and looked down at her as well.

"Do you need help up?" His clone asked.

A second her appeared and basically sighed before picking the original up off the floor. Him and his clone watched in amusement. There it was, the famous Hyuuga chakra control. She had to be in the 95th percental or more. Her control was fine-tuned from years of learning the gentle fist and now reverse engineering the trigrams. It would only grow from there on if she continued her training.

"Right, now we start training again," He and his clone said in unison.

She became serious and shared a look with her clone as he made the first move. She was placed on her feet and easily picked up her clone and threw her at his. Both became a cloud of dust and he blinked in surprise when they began to spar. Her movements were slow and sluggish due to the weights and he watched as she winced at each hit that made contact. She was going to be bruised, but she had some ointment that would help with that.

"Use your juken," Hayate ordered.

It was like flipping a switch. She went on the offensive and easily blocked most of the chakra paths in his dominate hand. She ducked under his arm when he brought it around to hit her head. She quickly shuffled back and had to dodge as he picked up speed. She had disarmed his dominate hand and gave herself an upper hand while he wasn't expecting it. The clone being thrown had been a diversion. He smirked as they danced around each other.

The only reason why she was even keeping up with him was because of the Hyuuga training, even the Yamanaka training had helped her.

It really showed that her peers didn't take their training seriously. It was a thing that would get them killed. Take your training seriously when your younger and you might just make it to the Sandaime's age. If you don't, well, the market for coffins won't be hurting any time soon.

He swept her legs from under her and slammed a foot into her stomach. She let out a loud cough as she became winded. The problem with the Hyuuga's is that they didn't think to train more than one type of taijutsu. The gentle fist was the most powerful, but if they went up against someone stronger than them with a different form that didn't require chakra. They were screwed.

She rolled out of the way from his next attack and got up onto her feet as fast as she could. She got back into her stance and tried to parry his next punch. He felt the chakra in his left hand stop when she hit a point in his wrist. He drew back and easily got behind her and swung a leg at her.

She ducked.

As his foot sailed where her head had been she looked up at it and grabbed it. He easily removed it from her grasp. She was breathing heavily, and looked exhausted. Yet, she was giving it her all.

He was able to get a kick in by bringing his leg down.

She went down and stopped moving for a while. He was slightly worried that he might've gone too far and accidentally kill her. He watched as her chest began to gently rise and fall. He let out a sigh. All he did was knock her out, that was rather good for a kid. He ruffled her shoulder length hair; he knew that she was going to cut it after the second round of the chuunin exam. Whether that be because an enemy grabbed her hair, or she finally got so tired of it.

He was gunning for the latter; he didn't feel right about the former.

She was Genma's kid, and he knew that Genma would be out for blood if someone hurt her. He did know that this was their job, but he also knew that if it happened outside of a mission then he had someone to hunt down. It wasn't like he would be doing it alone. She was one of those people that got under your skin and worm their way into your heart.

"If you don't get up, I won't take you to sushi anymore," He informed her to wake her up.

She turned to look at him with a slight frown. It slowly turned into a glare and she pushed herself up into a sitting position. He crouched down and checked her head. She had a nasty bump and some spots on her face that were going to be bruised.

"I believe that is all for today," He told her as he helped her to her feet.

"Right," She muttered, "Bye, Shishou."

He didn't feel right letting her walk home half asleep. He easily moved in front of her, her heavy limbs causing her to move so slow, and she bumped into him. With a practiced ease he picked her up onto his back and captured her legs with his arms. He was carrying her piggyback; he felt a chin on his shoulder and looked to see a half awake Yuzuki. It didn't take her long to fall asleep on him. He chuckled quietly at the sight, even as he passed by a familiar head of silver hair. He didn't stop and continued to her house.

The next week went by fast and she was now up to twenty-five pounds on her weights. She was finishing her D-Rank of babysitting the Daimyo's kid. That kid absolutely adored her. The dark-haired child always behaved for her and the Daimyo seemed to be requesting their team more. It didn't help that he reminded her of her niece, albeit a very spoiled version.

"I didn't think you'd be good with kids," Hayate muttered as they were paid for their mission.

She simply shrugged at that and put her money into a wallet that was just a pouch designed to look like a wolf. That was her last D-Rank and now they waited for her first C-Rank. Hayate could tell she was excited to do something that wasn't just chores. She didn't get the point of them but would do them. Money was money after all.

She liked, and he could be quoted for this, that dolla dolla.

He didn't get her sometimes. He let out a soft sigh as they stood there while the Sandaime stared them down. He had his pipe to his lips and was studying them. He had a C-Rank that was ready, but he felt as though there was more to it than the client was telling them.

He looked over the teacher and the student. Both were standing up straight and had their hands behind their backs. He couldn't help but think that it had been a good match for Yuzuki. They had yet to start on kenjutsu, getting her physical strength and stamina up so she could even wield a blade.

"So, what's our next mission, Old man?" A familiar voice exclaimed.

Hayate and Yuzuki looked behind them to see team seven, and a cat? Yuzuki almost grinned at the fact that someone had to go and get the Daimyo's wife's demon cat. That cat hated her, and the feeling was mutual. It let out a hiss as soon as it saw her.

"Tora," A familiar pinkette grunted as she tried to strong arm the cat into behaving.

"Trust me that won't work with Tora," Yuzuki teased as the Daimyo's wife came forward and grabbed her cat.

"Thank you for bringing back my precious cat," The large woman told team seven.

A single thought rang out through the room as the cat was smushed into the woman's large voluptuous chest. Poor cat. Yuzuki couldn't believe that someone had made her feel bad for Tora. Maybe she would try to be nice to the cat next time she babysat. Tora swiped at her head and she easily moved back to dodge it.

Never mind, that cat can rot in hell for all she cared.

She glared at the cat and it glared back at her. She brought a hand up and did the motion for keeping an eye on you. It hissed at her and she narrowed her eyes at it. Everyone in the room was wondering if she was going to start a fight with a cat. Hayate brought a hand up and smacked the back of her head.

"Don't start another fight with Tora," He sighed.

Another?

As if they could hear the collective thought the two gave a cough in unison and stood up straighter. She didn't mean to get angry at Tora, she was tired of the cat scratching at her every time it saw her. It didn't help that Madame Shijimi was a genuinely kind woman, though she did have that bad habit of smothering her cat.

"For team seven your next choices of missions are babysitting one of the elder's grandsons, shopping in the neighboring village, or helping with the potato digging," The Hokage informed the three-man team.

Yuzuki let out a low sigh as Naruto exclaimed that he didn't want to do another D-Rank. He didn't seem to understand that the D-Ranks were team building missions, she had figured that out with the fifth one that she did. When she had learned the clone jutsu her missions had gone faster when she worked together, even with herself. She couldn't help but be slightly amused when she saw varying looks on his team.

Sakura looked downright pissed at him, she didn't know if she needed to step in to put the pinkette in her place. She would kill for a team, as much as she adored having Hayate as her teacher she'd have loved the chance to work in a team again. She missed working with other people, but sacrifices had to be made. She wanted to live long enough to be the same age as the old man in front of her.

And, oddly enough, she did want a family in the future.

"Why do we keep getting the worst duties possible?!" Naruto shouted at the Hokage.

"Be quiet," Their sensei ordered as he lightly hit him in the head.

"Yamanaka," the Hokage said and it got her attention, "I leave it to you to explain this."

"Well, all ranks must work their way up," She explained with a slight frown, not understanding what was going through the Hokage's head, "Genin start with D-Ranks to help build up teamwork and trust between the three members of a cell, once they have finished a certain amount or have been deemed ready by their sensei they may take on a C-Rank mission."

"Oh, that makes sense," Naruto said with wide eyes.

"You didn't understand a word of it, did you?" She asked in amusement.

"I got most of it, Yuzuki-Chan!" Naruto exclaimed with a frown.

She grinned at that and looked to the side. It was nice to mess with someone younger than her, not to mention the other genin were all shorter than her. They could use her height to their advantage, but she doubted that two of them would. The Uchiha would most likely use it against her, but she had tricks up her sleeve to defeat him. A well-placed attack with her Juken and he would be down.

"Well, we've done enough D-Ranks, let us take a C-Rank old man!" Naruto yelled.

"He's loud," Hayate muttered.

The silver haired jonin sighed in agreement. It was hard not to get annoyed by the fact that the boy was extremely loud, he was lacking in the manner department for shinobi. The Hokage looked towards the group of fresh genin and their sensei's. They were a strong bunch. Some had their strengths in other areas and were more adaptable to situations that called for it.

"I'll give you a C-Rank mission," The Hokage said, "But you will be doing it with Gekko and Yamanaka, it's a protection mission."

"Who? A feudal lord? A princess?!" Naruto exclaimed with a grin.

"Calm down, I'm about to introduce him," The Hokage sighed, "Come in."

The door opened and an old man reeking of alcohol appeared. Yuzuki stiffened and her nose crinkled as she tried to ignore the smell. Hayate elbowed her and she gave him a look. He needed to get her to start wearing a mask to stop scents from bothering her, or have her try to get used to certain smells. She closed her eyes and let out a sigh. That seemed to have helped with the smell.

"They're all a bunch of brats," The old man stated before taking another drink from the bottle of alcohol that was in his hands, "Especially, the shortest one with the stupid looking face, are you all really ninja?"

"Who's the shortest one with the stupid face?" Naruto asked as he chuckled, he looked around him and noticed that the only person who seemed to stand above all of them happened to be the dirty blonde in the room, "I'll kill you!"

He was held back by his sensei who seemed unamused by his actions. Yuzuki brought a hand up to her forehead and let out a suffering sigh, it was going to be a long mission. Just her luck, maybe they should have stayed doing D-Ranks. She didn't mind the idea of helping with potato digging, it would be easier than dealing with team seven.

"I am the super expert bridge builder Tazuna," Their client informed them, "I expect you to provide me protection until I get back to my country and complete the bridge."

Hayate and Yuzuki shared a look. It was going to be a long mission. He knew that he needed to start her on kenjutsu, from what he remembered of this mission report they had come across a missing Nin. They needed to be on their guard and protec